FotoFest Biennial 2022

FotoFest announces the dates, curators, and curatorial focus of its 19th international biennial exhibition. On view in Houston, Texas between September 24 and November 6, 2022, the Biennial's central exhibition will focus on the ways contemporary image production and circulation informs and reflects global social, political, and cultural issues and movements. The exhibition will feature artists, photographers, and activists from around the globe who examine various modes of image-making, from social media and computer-generated renderings to news media and surveillance technologies, as a way to examine the formation of historical narratives, political ideology, and social agency.

The FotoFest Biennial 2022 will be co-curated by Amy Sadao, Steven Evans, and Max Fields. They will be supported by an international group of curatorial advisors. Evans is Executive Director of FotoFest and Fields is FotoFest Associate Curator and Director of Publishing. They are pleased to welcome visionary arts leader and curator, Amy Sadao, as co-curator for the Biennial exhibition and related programs. Sadao is former Daniel W. Dietrich II Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, and former director of the New York City activist arts organization Visual AIDS.

Steven Evans, FotoFest Executive Director, stated, “We are very excited to welcome Amy Sadao to the FotoFest Biennial 2022 curatorial team. She brings her distinct curatorial viewpoint and a history of engaging diverse communities, creating dialogue, and utilizing art as a catalyst to examine the most significant issues we face today—be they civil, social, or intellectual. FotoFest’s role is to serve as a broad platform for art, images, and ideas, and to foster engagement with important issues within society and culture; Amy Sadao will undoubtedly be invaluable in our fulfillment of this mission.”

Sadao said, “I am honored to join the FotoFest team to organize the next iteration of the FotoFest Biennial. It is particularly thrilling to extend my longstanding interests in photography, social movements, and the intersections of art activism and community-building projects by artists. I have long admired the way FotoFest and the city of Houston are presenting new ideas of contemporary art and artists.”

In addition to the Biennial 2022 central exhibition, FotoFest will present a new interpretation of the pandemic-curtailed FotoFest Biennial 2020 exhibition, African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other, curated by Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph ABP. African Cosmologies Redux will feature artists, artworks, and themes that were part of the previous iteration, as well as new projects exclusive to the 2022 exhibition.

The FotoFest Biennial 2022 program will consist of three exhibitions including the 2022 central exhibition, the African Cosmologies Redux project, and an exhibition drawn from its renowned Meeting Place Portfolio Review, Ten by Ten. The Biennial will also include a symposium and series of lectures, performances, and panel discussions, a curated film program, and curatorial tours of related exhibitions across the city. A hardcover Biennial book will be produced in conjunction with the Biennial program and feature images of artwork by the Biennial's curatorial theme and included artists. 

Additional FotoFest Biennial programs
FotoFest will stage the International Meeting Place Portfolio Review for Artists during the FotoFest Biennial 2022, between September 25 and October 8, 2022. A two-week-long event that brings together over 400 artists from over 30 countries, with nearly 200 national and international curators, publishers, gallerists, and photography industry leaders for one-on-one meetings, the Meeting Place is the largest portfolio review program of its kind in the world. 

Registration for the Meeting Place 2022 opens in fall 2021.

Over 100 Texas-based museums, art galleries, non-profit art spaces, and commercial venues will participate in the FotoFest Biennial 2022 program through the presentation of image-based exhibitions and related events and programs.

For further questions please contact:
Brandon Harris, FotoFest Manager of Engagement and Communications
T 713 223 5522 ext.21 / press@fotofest.org